We hope that all our Delaware home security customers will ask themselves that question. If someone at the door claims to be your neighbor and you have never seen him or her before, you have the right to be skeptical. It’s just a smart home security practice, becausescammers are everywhere now – not just in bad neighborhoods, or states where you hear about crime happening. In fact, some scammers actually travel in rings all across the country in search of new victims who haven’t yet heard about their scams. Often, those scams involve impersonating the victim’s neighbor.
News reports reveal all kinds of new “neighbor” scams circulating; here is an example. This one may not be as common in Delaware because it is more typical in large apartment and condo buildings, where people are not likely to know their upstairs neighbors. Regardless, there is a variation of it that could affect people living in single family homes. Here’s how it goes: A person knocks on the door, claiming to be your neighbor “from upstairs.”
He says he has a leak that is dripping down into your unit, and he wants to pay for the damage. While inside, he pretends to be examining the damage in some other room, but he takes your cash or jewelry instead. Of course, he promises to return with information on the maintenance service that will be “coming out to fix the problem soon.”
In another variation of this neighbor scam, single family home dwellers can be victimized when the burglar claims to be a neighbor whose child, dog or building project has caused you yard damage. Or, he may claim that he saw something happening on your second story, and offer to “go check it out” for you. Scammers will use whatever they think will work on their victims; they always have a full bag of tricks.
As our Delaware home security customer, you have the right to be safe in your own home. Be sure to pass on this information to anyone you know who could be vulnerable to a neighbor scam, and be sure to stay on the lookout for it yourself.